The history of the telecommunications industry in the United States is primarily that of the break-up of a once powerful monopoly – AT&T and the competition that has developed since that time. This competition among the plethora of phone companies that now exists includes far more than basic phone services. In looking at the ways in which one of these phone companies – SBC Communications – continues to diversify its services, we see how an example of how all of the current phone companies have found that it makes better corporate sense to identify and fill a number of highly defined micro-markets rather than to try to compete head-on with each other by each offering the same basic services.
